The Eighth out of Seven
by SeriouslySane
Summary: When Kyra-Lynn was seperated from everyone she knew when she was five, she met the street kids living in Leeds. None of her life ever made sense, until she was invited to Hogwarts and her life exploded with talking snakes, sarcasm and odd fathers.


I started my life with two names.

When I was born, my correct name was Kyra Teagan Riddle. This was my official name. It's on my birth certificate.

My mother calls me Madelyn Isabel Jodie Wicker. She named me this later on, when I was about two months old. She said my previous name brought bad memories.

Somehow my first name ended up being Kyra-Lynn, and don't even ask about the rest of it. I think I beat Dumbledore's record at World's longest name award. It's a helluva mouth-full, I can tell you. It has its upsides though. You can always make people's jaw drop by saying your name is Kyra-Lynn Isabel Teagan Jodie Wicker-Riddle. I think it's rather entertaining.

My mother's name was Sophie Hayley Xena Wicker. I lived with my mum for five years, and I guess life was pretty great. But on 2nd November 1980 Lord Voldemort entered Sophie's abode at 6:30 in the evening and killed everyone inside. Or so everyone else thought.

On that same day and on that same time a certain five-year-old girl just happened to be playing in the garden when she heard a scream. She began to run up the steep grassy hill that she was playing nearby, just in time to see her childhood home go up in flames, small explosions happening in the interior of the house. She reached the back door and ran in screaming, not really remembering that fire did actually burn. She turned the corner to see a hooded man with odd features, brandishing a stick and cackling madly. Her mother was on the floor, covered in blood but, as far as she could tell, not yet dead. The girl, being a child thinking only of saving her mother, for some reason or another decided to pick up the nearest object (which was actually a purple sparkly teddy bear) and throw it at him, shouting 'OI! FREAKO!'

Lord Voldemort looked up in shock, and was somewhat surprised to see a small girl with black hair, brandishing another teddy with her tongue out. He took out his wand and pointed it at the girl, but seemed to think about the situation carefully.

Personally, I've always thought He-Who-Has-No-Balls to be a bit of a strange guy. If you haven't already guessed, I was that very five-year-old who had threatened Lord Voldemort, and yet I'm still alive. I don't remember anything else that happened on that evening, though I think at some point old Voldie stunned me, or at least did something and wiped my memory. Either-hoo, I can't even remember how I made out alive.

The only person who witnessed these previous events just happened to be my mad uncle Fletcher, and he died. Fletcher was my mother's older brother and just so happened to live opposite us (it was the reason why we'd just moved here). He saw the flames and immediately made sure he got over there, just in time to see You-Know-Who levitating a small child (me) out of a burning house. Of course, Fletchy had to duel him, it's in the Wicker blood to duel on random circumstances. Ol' Fletchy fired random spells in Voldie's direction and managed to wake me up, bless him. I woke up just in time to see a flash of green light. I didn't know Fletchy was dead at the time, or what was going on at all, because my mother hadn't told about magic at all and did none herself, but I did know I was in trouble. So what did I do? I ran for it.

As you might have guessed, I never saw my uncle Fletcher again. My escape attempt wasn't the best in the world. I had no money and a crap sense of direction, and so I was easily lost in seconds. My mum and I moved a lot when I was younger, though I never asked why, and recently we'd moved to Leeds, which just so happened to be the place where I was born. I was proudly born in Yorkshire.

I'm not entirely sure how I found them. I just…did. Luck, I guess, though I never believed in that crap. Maybe it was just a coincidence.

One moment I'm running through the back streets of Leeds, lost and alone, my feet still bare from playing in the stream at the bottom of the garden and my body covered in burns. Next moment, I rounded a corner and SMACK, I crashed into a burly youth of around sixteen. Because I often like to experiment on using the words I had heard my mother say often, I swore creatively, glancing up at the boy blocking my way.

"What the fuck…" The boy took hold of my collar and lifted me into the air, giving me a slight shake. I screamed and my arms flailed out. I hated being short and I hated being touched. "'Ere, look what I got!" He shouted out loudly, and suddenly we were surrounded by curious kids.

With a mixture of fright and annoyance, I shouted some obscenities that a sailor would be proud of and the group laughed. Maybe I shouldn't really listen to my mum swear and copy, but she swore _a lot._ "Feisty one, ain't she?" Another boy chuckled. I couldn't see him, but from his voice I guessed he was around 15. I stuck out my tongue.

"Lemme GO!" I screamed, wriggling furiously, but the grip didn't get any looser.

"Hey now kid, calm down, you're going to rip your pretty top." I honestly did not give a damn, and I kept wriggling, trying to get my little fists to connect with his face. Tears of frustration were coming out of my eyes, and I began to panic.

"Oi, Jamie, stop bullying the poor kid and let her go." This time the voice was female, and the guy named Jamie let go of my collar reluctantly. I landed on my feet and scowled, straightening out my clothes and turning to Jamie angrily. He was a lot taller that me but when I'm scared, even that age, I turn into a bit of a terror. It's just the first thing that comes to my mind – if you can't scare them physically, scare them with words. It works…occasionally…

"What the HELL do you think you're playing at, mister?" Ah, my voice was so squeaky when I was five. "God's sake, pick on someone your own size, silly fuck-brain!" I didn't realise I was crying until after I said that, and quickly wiped the traitorous tears with my sleeve. I turned to glare at the rest of them. They all looked confused and slightly amused. This made me even angrier. "What you looking at?" I muttered to one of them, crossing my arms.

They blinked then burst out laughing. I even heard one wonder how someone so small could have such a foul mouth. Damn, it wasn't working. I turned on my evilest glare. If looks could kill, they'd all be dead by now. Then again, why leave it to looks?

Someone tapped me on the shoulder and I spun round, my fists flailing out madly, squealing with fright. "Hey, easy kid!" It was the same voice who'd got the Jamie dude to put me down. I calmed down a bit and, though I was quite embarrassed by my over-dramatic reaction, still stared at her angrily. "Look, what are you doing here?" She asked. I, for the first time, didn't make eye contact and stared at her shoes. They were black converse with pink skulls on and I had to admit, they were pretty cool.

"What's it to you?" I replied stubbornly. Truth be told, I didn't have a clue. Last time I checked, I left a burning building that just so happened to be my home, my mummy who might be dead or alive, and my looking-to-be-dead uncle with a scary man that shot pretty lights at people from a stick. Yeah, my situation was pretty screwed, and chances are they wouldn't believe me.

"Leila, this girl could be trying to get us arrested." It was that boy Jamie again. I stuck out my tongue at him. My tongue gets an appearance _a lot _as far as I'm concerned.

"Yeah, like this girl could get _us _arrested. How old are ya kid?" She looked down at me.

"Nearly six." I lied, shoving my hands in my pockets. I'd only just turned five really.

"So five?"

"No dumbo, I'm 38." I muttered sarcastically, and some of the kids around me giggled. Yes, even at five I'd discovered the wonders of sarcasm.

The girl raised her eyebrows. I noticed she had blonde hair with pink tips. "Ha bloody ha. Point is, you're a pretty brave fricking five year old. And anyway, what would a five-year-old be doing out 'ere?"

"Duh, I've already told you, I'm 38." I said. I also noticed that I was one of the smallest there. This irritated me.

"Hey Lei, lemme deal with this." Another girl came over to talk to the ever-stubborn moi. I was pleased to see she wasn't as fricking tall as the rest of them, and I noticed she had a kind and a somewhat amused face. I sighed. I guess the stubbornness wasn't getting me anywhere. But then again, it was my natural talent. "Heya. What's your name?" She asked softly. I reckoned she just bordered patronising. I decided to tell her the truth. No one knew me anyway, so I might as well.

"Kyra-Lynn Isabel Teagan Jodie Wicker-Riddle." I struggled not to smile. I liked seeing people's expressions when I said my totally awesome name.

The girl's mouth opened slightly. She regained her dignity (which was better than some of the others) and replied "Well…what do you liked to be known as?" She asked. I pondered the question.

"Lynn. Or Ky. Or Ky_ra._ Or Candle. After my surname, y'know? You?"

"I'm Heather. Do you want me to introduce you to the rest of us?" Her tone was beginning to annoy me now.

"Look Lady, I don't know who you are, but just cause I'm five doesn't mean I want you to be all patronising on me, okay?" I glanced round and happily noticed that I had made everyone once again shocked. I was beginning to enjoy this. Yes, I am _the_ meanest five-year-olds _ever. _"And yes, I wouldn't mind some intros, but I want them QUICK please." I tried my hardest to prevent my voice wobbling. Mam always said that's the key to a good speech. "'Cause I got an evil dark weirdo after me shooting pretty lights out of a stick, and I don't know about you but I like living, y'know? So if you're gonna help me do it NOW 'cause I've got no where to go," I made a point to pout. "but if you ain't, I think I may continue running." Wow, I am _so much _like my mum. God, I can be such a bitch sometimes. But an awesome bitch. An awesome five-year-old bitch. Ding ding ding game and match for Kyra-Lynn.

The first one to react was Leila, who grinned and pushed Heather out the way. "Now you've gotta be the coolest five-year-old I've ever met." I smiled. I like people who appreciate the fact that I became a teenager a _long _time ago.

"Thanks, I try." I said. Leila's grin grew even wider.

"Well you're in luck Candle-Head, we just so happen to be just what you need." This was better. Sensible people for once. I realised Heather was still looking slightly hurt but I pushed that aside. No one patronises Kyra-Lynn Wicker.

Jamie had to go and spoil it. "What the fuck Lei, we can't just take in little kids every day. Whatcha playing at?" I looked at the tall dude angrily.

"What did you call me?" I asked slowly.

"I mean…wha…?"

"What did you call me?"

"I just called you little…"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, I'M TOO LITTLE TO BE REMOTELY IMPORTANT? THAT I'M SO LITTLE YOU CAN'T SEE ME COS I'M A SPEC ON YOUR SHOE?" What can I say? If Edward Elric can do it, why can't I? (Full Metal Alchemist people, get with it.)

"I-I-I never called you that…"

"YOU FUCKING SOUNDED LIKE IT! NOW YOU BETTER APOLOGIZE MISTER OR ELSE I'M GONNA GET A SPOON AND SCOOP OUT YOU EYES IN THE NIGHT, SAVVY?"

"W-what?"

"SAY SORRY OR I'M GONNA GOUGE OUT YOUR INTERNAL ORGANS WITH A SPOON!"

"S-sorry?"

"GOOD! YOU BETTER MEAN IT MATEY!" I gave him one last glare and turned back to Leila. She looked somewhat frightened and slightly impressed. Puurfect. I had a feeling that watching a little kid having a tantrum over being short must be entertaining, to say the least, but I did it with _style. _And yes, I'm incredibly modest too. "Now…where was I?" I asked, smiling sweetly.

"Umm…you needed help?" Leila took my hand. "Come with me; just ignore the retards I have to be in the general vicinity with." Jamie and co looked offended, which is not surprising really. I let Leila take me to where she was leading me to.

Operation Bitchy-Five-Year-Old-Needing-Help was a go-go.

After running for what seemed like _ages, _though I didn't want to seem like I couldn't keep up, Leila took me down a ladder at the far end. The rest of the kids had gone so it was just Leila and I, and to say I was curious was probably a large understatement. But that's pretty natural. They say curiosity killed the cat; if I was the cat, I'd be dead. I forever wanted to know what, why, how, when. Every little thing seemed like such a big deal for me. I wanted to know _everything. _Once I knew something, it wasn't as if I wanted to gossip about it, it was just the satisfaction of _knowing _that I liked, the thought that _you _knew what was going on, and _others _didn't. I almost electrocuted myself when I was two, because Mum didn't tell me what would happen if you stuck your finger in the plug socket. And so I nearly did so, if Mum hadn't managed to catch me doing it in time. She explained afterwards in very graphic detail what _would _have happened, and though I wouldn't try again because I already knew, she still made sure she protected every plug socket from me ever since.

The first thing I heard as I climbed down the ladder into the darkness was children. Screaming, laughing, shouting children. As soon as I heard them my first thought was _God, are they in pain? _But then I remembered the laughter and so my second thought was _do they have night vision eyes or something? _It really was very dark down here. I gave an involuntary shiver of a mixture of fright and cold and crossed my arms automatically, hugging myself to warm up. I think Leila saw it (she _must _have night vision sight) because she took off her leather jacket and handed it to me. I was impressed to find that it was real leather and pulled it on, wrapping it around myself tightly. It almost reached my knees, and it was supposed to be _fitted _for Leila. _Great Lynn, way to go for being so damn small…_

Once I had told my conscience to shut the Hell up, I started to follow Leila along the dark passage. I didn't like the dark, so I kept close to her like a sheep to a Sheppard. I don't know why, but I suddenly had a strange fear of someone leaping out and grabbing me. I was fairly sure it wouldn't happen but I kept closer to Leila anyway, practically jogging to keep up (each one of Leila's steps I had to take two to three).

I could see a light up ahead, and we seemed to pick up the pace slightly. At least, I was definitely jogging now, as Leila strode forward oblivious to my struggles. I looked down to my feet and remembered I had no shoes – my feet, as if just realising this, suddenly became freezing. I could really do with some nice fluffy socks right now…

We reached the light and turned a corner. The ceiling was beginning to become low and for the first time ever I was quite pleased with my height – Leila had to duck whilst she walked. The roof kept shrinking until we reached a pipe like tunnel, with a surrogated edge. Leila was practically stooping now, though I simply had to bow my head, as if I was nodding to someone. But Hell, this pipe _stunk._

We climbed through the stinking pipe that smelled on a combination between piss and rotten eggs, and gradually my mind seemed clever enough to block out the terrible stench (about time!). Leila didn't seem to be having a problem, but then she _did _have a fricken' huge piercing on her nose, so personally I don't know how she smelt, or even breathed, at all.

"Nearly there now." Leila informed me, and I nodded, suddenly rather nervous. I didn't quite know what to be expected. I look back on it now and realise how stupid I must have been to go with a complete bunch of strangers. But back then I was five and had better things to think about, like wonder how these tunnels had got there in the first place. Maybe they were dug…

And then suddenly the tunnel popped out into a huge cavern. And it was obvious we were here. I gaped. There were so many _kids. _They were _everywhere._

It seemed this place was similar to a living area, like a giant living room. There were huge sticks and logs and stuff to hold the ceiling up, and they'd dragged old sofas and armchairs down here for seating. In between the chairs there were boxes and tables, the former holding books and comics, the latter having cups and plates on top, and in one place an entire tea set. Somehow someone had dragged down fire caskets, or fireplaces, or somewhere to hold a fire safely, but in these cases they are placed against the wall with a long pipe snaking up like a wall vine, apparently so the smoke can travel out of the underground place rather than filling the cavern. Many of the fires were lit, but still the people that lived down here looked to be wearing jumpers, as if the temperature wasn't exactly what you would call nice and toasty in. There was even a TV in one place, and though it didn't work someone had decided to draw a picture and stick it on the screen, so it was apparent that it was just there for show.

Up the sides of the wall what looked to be almost like shelves had been dug out the side; shelves that had kids in, with mattresses or hammocks with blankets. In some cases there were bunk-bed structures. To get to these 'shelves' were tall ladder that had been nailed into the wall, and ropes with knots tied in them which looked as though designed for climbing. To get from one place to another, wooden balconies had been fitted and huge rope swings on which kids were already swinging and playing on, apparently oblivious to the drop below.

In the wall opposite us I saw more tunnels, which I suspected led to other places. After examining the place and absorbing the whole thing, I turned to Leila, remembering to close my mouth.

"How the _HECK _did you get it like _this?_" I asked disbelievingly. Leila shrugged.

"Riley said this was how he found it." I really couldn't be bothered to think too much about Riley for now, and concentrated on the place in front of me. I felt quite faint.

Riley turned out to be the leader of this establishment, if you could call it that. He was the one who started it, who found this place. No one's entirely sure why he was down here in the first place, but no one really wanted to question him. He's a weird guy. Leila took me to him when we first arrived, and I have to admit, I was quite scared of him. He had quite dark hooded eyes and was always frowning, with a shaved head and quite a pronounced nose. He had a low quiet voice, which was even scarier in a way as it came across as rather threatening. He cracked his knuckles and smoked, two habits I find rather disgusting, and he acted as though he didn't want to be there and was disgusted by the whole situation. I noticed Leila was slightly held back when she explained why I was here, as if she too was scared of him and was worried that he might not take me. Finally, Riley turned to me, blowing cigarette smoke into my face. I tried not to cough.

"So look here kid, watcha say your name was?" I noticed his accent was English – a londoners accent, and I wondered what he was doing here. Then again, he was, I thought, escaping.

"My full name, sir?" I don't know why, but even I couldn't manage my smart mouth come backs I usually come up with. He was so damn scary.

"Yer, go ahead." He brought the cigarette back to his mouth and breathed in deep, and I mentally noted not to ever smoke in my life.

"Er, Kyra-Lynn Isabel Teagan Jodie Wicker-Riddle, sir. But I usually just get called Kyra-Lynn sir." I added quickly. My name didn't sound so impressive in front of him, just embarrassing.

"No kidding, your name's a bit of a mouthful. So watcha doing here, Kyra Double-Barrel-Surname Lynn?" I blushed. He made it sound so stupid. I should have settled with Wicker. That was my mother's name anyway.

"I was running away, had no place to go, sir." I said truthfully. I didn't want to mention the man with the bright lights. I didn't want to sound any more stupid than I already did.

"Running away, eh?" He leaned in closer, so close that I could smell the cigarette smoke and see hairs sticking out of his pronounced nose. I was somewhat disgusted. "Well I'll have you know we don't except any here street kid here. We've never been caught, not ever. _You got that?_" He shouted, and I tried not to flinch. I wanted to stand my ground to prove what I was worth.

"I got that." I said quietly, and Riley looked a little surprised, though kept his cool.

"So you reckon you won't get caught, eh? That you can keep up with the training we give you, eh?" His face broke into a slightly sadistic smile. "We bring down tough on our training, y'know." I gulped, but held my chin up, my back straight.

"Yes sir!" I tried to shout, but it came a bit like a squeak. Riley nodded. He turned to Leila, who looked slightly bemused.

"Alright, we'll keep her. But you'll be looking after her, alright? I'm not chasing some little toddler who can't clean up her own shit." I didn't bother to point out that I wasn't a toddler, and was in fact five, and yes, I am perfectly capable of picking up my own shit. "I want to see her up at six-thirty tomorrow for the training, you got me?" Leila nodded and beckoned me to follow her. I did so, and noticed that Riley glared at me as I left. So much for first impressions.

Leila told me that Riley's always like that, and if I just play it cool I'll be fine. I wasn't so sure. I had a feeling Riley didn't like me.

She showed me where I was sleeping; a spare hammock on the same floor as Leila, about six or seven metres away from hers. She told me all the Small Fry slept in hammocks, as they weren't as comfortable as the other beds, and the older you get the better the bed you got. I thought this was fairly reasonable. There were different areas – I was in the Small Fry area, from the ages 2 – 8 (Tots were kept in cots with some of the older kids or, in some cases, the mothers and fathers), and Leila's was with the Teen area, 13 – 19, which was placed next to our area to look after the little kids. There was also a Tweenies' area, for 9 – 12s, and a 20 + area (the Oldies) for the few adults that were here. All these areas were on every floor, or 'shelf', or whatever you wanna call it. I was quite surprised how organised it all was.

Leila introduced me to some of the other kids that were sleeping in my area. There were seven of them, four boys and three girls, and I was the eighth. Some of them were quite friendly but there were others that weren't very nice. There was a hyper-looking red-haired four-year-old called Erin, a moody eight-year-old wannabe-goth called Teagan (which I pointed out as one of my middle names, where she just shrugged grumpily), an arrogant floppy-haired six-year-old called Jamie, a really cute but strangely intelligent two-year-old called Oscar, an seven-year-old that could compete against _me _for the bitchiest-girl-award called Caitlin, a geeky eight-year-old, almost a Tweenie, called Kyle and an annoyingly zippy three-year-old with wild hair called Twyggy. I attempted to cram all these names into my head, but I have to admit, I had a crap memory.

As soon as Leila left me with them, they crowded round me curiously. I grinned nervously.

"So, look what the cat dragged in." The girl I figured to be called Caitlin walked up to me, glaring. My grin vanished.

"Gee, thanks for the lovely comment." I said sarcastically. Sure, my black hair had gone a little frizz right now, but that was only natural after what happened throughout the day. I was no piss-taker.

We were saved from a helluva little-kid bitch fight by little Erin, who didn't seem to notice what was going on and hung on to my arm. I shivered, but tried to relax. I just didn't, like, being, touched…

"Heya, what is your naaame?" She asked innocently. I smiled. Erin seemed cool.

"My name is Kyra-Lynn Isabel Teagan Jodie Wicker-Riddle." I said proudly. It sounded a lot better saying my name to these people than to Riley. They had the decency to be impressed.

"COOL! My name is Erin. Erin Lilly Wilson." She grinned and shook my hand enthusiastically and then practically dragged me by my arm to the hammock I was apparently sleeping in. "You're next to my hammock!" She said excitedly, looking as though Christmas had come early. I smiled awkwardly. I wasn't really used to all this attention. When it was just my mum and I, we kept out the way of crowds and the attention. We just kept unseen and unheard, and then move on.

Luckily I didn't have to talk much. Sure, I can bitch about someone easily, I was good at that, but when it came to actually _talking, _I kind of failed. I just never talked sociably like that before. But Erin talked for _hours. _She talked about everything and anything at all, whilst I sat and listen. Apparently the reason why she was here was because she had over-powering parents that wanted her to be seen and not heard, and in some cases not even seen. I realised that must be why she talked so much – after spending so long being silent it must be good to let it out. She ran away from the parents with her older brother, Will, and they ended up here.

After talking for so long, Erin took my hand and dragged me down the ladder to the main room to meet some of her friends. I noticed that she, and a lot of the rest of the street kids, moved incredibly fluidly and seemed to fly down in one smooth move. I was somewhat impressed and reminded myself to learn to be like that.

Down at the bottom, Erin weaved me through the hundreds of kids to two floppy couches that were covered in kids my age. They looked up curiously as I arrived and I smiled awkwardly. I was beginning to feel very dizzy. I didn't deal well with so many people, particularly when they surrounded me like this. Erin didn't seem to notice my discomfort.

"Guys, this is Kyra-Lynn." She said proudly, causing those that had not yet got up to get up and surround me. I gulped. The whole place was spinning. "Ky? You look kind of pale…" Erin's concerned voice sounded like it was coming from the end of a long tunnel, echoing quietly away from me. I promptly threw up, and then my eyes rolled up and I saw a flash of light and thousands of shopping trolleys rolling past, then knew no more.

-x-

I woke up to a helluva headache, and my eyes were blurry as I attempted to open them. The first thing I saw was snow. Why was it snowing? Wasn't I meant to be inside? Was I in heaven? But I couldn't be in heaven, my head hurt too much for that. It was then I noticed the snow had pink bits in it. Now that was strange. I didn't know snow was pink. Maybe I _was _in heaven. A really painful heaven.

But then I realised that the white stuff was actually _hair. _ Now that's weird. This was such a strange heaven. I had some serious complaining to God to do. From now on I believed in reincarnation. I was suddenly interrupted in my musings by someone shaking me awake. _How very rude. _

"OI CANDLE-HEAD! WAKE UP!" Now, where had I heard Candle-Head before? Didn't Leila call me it? Does that mean it was _my _name? Hmm… "CANDLE-HEAD IF YOU ARE IGNORING ME YOU'VE GOT ME TO ANSWER TO!"

I finally grunted and sat up, rubbing my eyes, annoyed. I was in a hammock; the reason why was beyond me. I looked furiously towards the girl who had woken me up, grumbling.

"I don't care if you wanted to sleep, but you need to see Riley! You need to meet him at six-thirty Godsake!" Wishing very hard that my dream world _had _been heaven, I stumbled out of my bed, swearing under my breath. I was still in my clothes from yesterday, as I didn't have anything else.

"What happened yesterday?" I grunted, the headache jolting my memory. There were lots of people…they were surrounding me…I threw up…

"You threw up and fainted. You gave Erin quite a scare. She thought it was her fault. It was late anyway, so after waking you up we just led you to bed. You probably don't remember waking up though…" I shook my head. That explained the headache. Every single time I faint, I always get headaches. I continued to bumble along, still only half-awake, my head feeling like it was hosting a tap-dancing competition for elephants. I woke up a bit as started climbing down the stairs, but that must have been owing to the fact that someone emptied a huge bucket of water (at least I hope it was water) onto my head.

"HEY!" I spluttered, almost falling off the ladder. I heard a chorus of laughs echoing from above and saw a group of kids, led by Caitlin, who was holding a bucket, the devil in her eyes. I felt something move upon my head and reached for it, my hand gripping hold of scaly skin. I flinched in surprise and shook my head, causing the lizard-thing to fall off my head and onto my shoulder. It was at this point it got scared, opened its mouth and bit into my skin. "HOLY MOTHERFUCKER!" I screamed, once again almost falling off the ladder I was _still _on and, whilst trying not to look down, I held tightly on with one arm and attempted to yank the frightened lizard with the other. Up above those damn kids were still laughing, Caitlin's voice reigning over the rest of them with a high bloody evil cackle.

"Oi Candle-Head! Hurry up!" Leila voice carried from down below and I automatically looked down, giving me a dizzy feeling as the whole place swayed. _Oh crap, that's high._

I slowly managed to edge myself down the ladder, my evil lizard on my shoulder and still biting, the laughter still echoing from above. I felt myself go red with embarrassment and I tried to block it out. _Just keep going down…one step, two step, three step…_

Finally, for the name of all things holy, _finally, _I touched ground. I stood upon it and breathed again, and then wrenched the reptile off my throbbing shoulder. I finally managed it and threw it to the ground. _Damn kids, emptying a bucket of water _and _a reptile onto my head…_ I spun on my heel towards Leila, who was looking impatient. Great.

"Leila, they emptied a bucket of water! _And a lizard!_ It bit my shoulder!" I pointed towards my bloody shoulder and towards the lizard that stood nearby us. Was it me or was he…_smiling?_

"Candle, it's just a baby crocodile! You are gonna get an awful lot more than a baby crocodile if you are late!" I opened my mouth in shock.

"_Just _a baby crocodile? _Just _a baby crocodile?" I stared at her in disbelief, but she just shrugged.

"Yeah, happens all the time. But hurry up! You've got five minutes to get over there!" I shook my head, slightly frustrated, but didn't bother arguing. I followed Leila as she ran towards Riley's 'office'. To my annoyance to evil little baby crocodile decided to follow us, but I decided to ignore it, for now. I was concentrating more on the fact on why Riley wanted me.

We reached Riley's office just in time and knocked. I was shocked that there was a door – this underground cavern was getting weirder every second – but here it was and here we stood. After a couple of seconds we heard Riley shout "Come in!"

I had been in Riley's office before but then I was too tired to really register it. Now here I was, dripping wet, and I began to notice things.

There was a desk, a chair and a bed. That was all I had picked up last night. I figured the walls were just decorated in posters and such. But now I saw it all, weapon after weapon after weapon after weapon, all lined up perfectly. There were guns and machetes and knifes and throwing knifes, anything you could name and it was all there. I was shocked and somewhat impressed. I was a little scared actually. Though it looked like these things were just for show, I wouldn't put it past Riley to actually use them.

Riley was sitting on his desk, once again smoking, puffing smoke out for all it was worth. I suddenly wondered where the smoke went, and looked up to see another of them chimneys buried in the ceiling at the top.

"I brought you Kyra-Lynn, Riley." I noticed how she didn't call me Candle-Head for once. She always called me Candle-Head. Maybe she didn't want to use it in front of Riley. Riley had a knack of making everything you do and say seem stupid.

"Thank you Leila. You may go." I mentally panicked, not wanting Leila to go and leave me with him. She gave me an encouraging smile and left me on my own to face Riley. I gulped. "Come closer, girl." He said, beckoning me forward. I do so and stood awkwardly with my arms behind my back.

"Girl, do you know why these kids never get caught?" He said softly, blowing the smoke into my face and making my eyes sting. I shook me head. "_Parkour." _He said loudly, standing up.

"Er…what's that, sir?" I asked, stammering slightly.

"Don't interrupt girl." He said angrily. "_Parkour _is a French term. It means getting from one place to another the quickest way possible. It's incredibly dangerous but to stay here-" He leaned in close again, "-you need to know it."

He strode over towards one of the cabinets and took out a gun. It was pretty damn huge and he took it into his hands. "Do you know what this is, girl?" He asked carefully, stroking the device in his hands. I shivered.

"No sir."

"This is a Colt Trooper mk.V with 8in barrel and mounted scope. It's also known as Colt Whitetailer." I gulped again as he looked down at his firearm, as though thinking. "Do you know what would happen if I shot you with it?" I started, though tried to keep my cool, my eyes flickering from the gun to him nervously.

"I would die, sir?" He smiled evilly.

"Only if I shot you in the right place. If I shot, say, in the leg, you wouldn't die straight away would you?" I shook my head. "You would just go through hours of excruciating pain and maybe bleed to death.

"Now, we don't want you getting shot, do we? Getting shot means getting caught. And no one gets caught. So that's why you learn _parkour._" He put his gun back in the cabinet and sat back on his desk. "Now…do 50 press-ups." I blinked.

"W-what, sir?" I stammered.

"Do 50 press-ups. NOW." I slowly got down to my hands and knees and stretched out my legs, putting my body-weight on my arms. I had sometimes watched my mother doing press-ups and had tried them myself, but I tired myself out quickly. Then again, I was quite athletic from all the running around me and my mam did, so I thought I'd have a go.

But alas, I collapsed at my second go. My arms attempted to touch my nose against the floor as Riley had told me, but I just couldn't take it. I lay on the floor, panting slightly, when I suddenly felt Riley grab my top and pull me upwards, so my face was level with his.

"You tired?" He asked softly, and I nodded slowly, my throat tightened by the cloth around my neck. He shook his head, as though mocking me, and I frowned. "Every morning at 6:30am exactly I want you down here, even if you have activities going on in the day. Every morning I want you down here doing press-ups – until you can do 50 press-ups. Once you can do the press-ups, we can start on the _parkour._" I nodded again, frustrated that I can't learn _parkour _straight away, but too scared of Riley to disagree. Well, I'm gonna have to learn how to do press-ups properly.

I stood up once again, standing self-consciously with my shoulders hunched as Riley went to get another cigarette. I was disgusted. _He's gonna kill himself_, I thought to myself, though even though I wasn't particularly sick minded, I felt satisfied.

Riley stood tall in front of me. I barely reached his waist. And people wander why I'm so scared of him. He turned towards a cupboard behind his desk and opened it, taking out a key. He took hold of my arm and led me to the office's entrance. Opposite was a door which he unlocked. Honestly, I was starting to get annoyed by the perfect layout of this 'cavern', especially the fact no one questioned it. I mean c'mon, how hard can it be?

Turned out that behind the locked door was a private gym, with poles, pits of foam, punch bags, the lot. I was surprised for not the first time in the last couple days. Riley made me try out every one, and by the end I was exhausted, as though I wasn't aloud to try out any proper _parkour, _I still worked out, with chin-ups (I managed 2), punching work-outs, sit-ups, my push-ups and extended handstands. All in all, I almost fainted when we'd finally finished, and Riley chucked me out and demanded I went and helped make lunch. I hadn't had breakfast yet and was starving, so scarpered pretty quickly.

I was forced to go through this every morning. In the afternoons I was placed on look-out duty and no proper robberies, though unless Riley was in charge of the patrols, the other street kids generally let me off any heavy work as I was doing so much in the morning. My days passed like a blur – up at six, work-out with Riley until 11:30, break 'til two, then look-out duties and patrols until late evening, at which point I zonked out. The first couple of weeks were the hardest, and a lot of the time my young skinny body couldn't cope with all the training. But slowly I got fitter and more muscled, until finally after weeks and weeks of press-ups, I managed it.

"47-48-49…" I put all my energy in my last push-up, as I lowered myself to the floor so my nose was touching and pushing back up again. "50!" I whispered, before collapsing in a heap onto the hard ground. I lay there for a bit, breathing heavily, waiting for Riley to say something. After what seemed like hours lying on the floor panting, I opened my eyes a crack to see Riley sitting on his desk, staring at me. He saw me looking and stood up, stepping forward carefully.

"Well done." He said quietly, looking down at me with an odd expression on his face. "You've done the big 50. I will now teach to _parkour." _He swept away to his gym, leaving me on the floor. I slowly pulled myself into sitting position and stretched my arms out in front of me, swivelling my wrists and shrugging my shoulders, trying to get rid of the ache I usually felt in the mornings. After doing this for a couple of minutes, I slowly got to my feet. I was still short, but instead of having ribs showing I was much more toned. My hair was now much longer as I hadn't cut it, though Leila had died the tips and the fringe a bright pink, which I appreciated very much. I'd asked if Leila had to go through the press-ups like I had; she had said no, but she did have to go through some very intensive _parkour _training. Then again, she had been nine when she had some here, rather than five like me. She had showed me some of her _parkour, _but I was so tired from my morning training I'd never really got it. Now I was learning the real stuff.

When I arrived in the gym I warmed up like I normally did, and then Riley showed me the moves. He still acted as though he hated me, but this time I was so keen to learn how to do this sort of stuff, I ignored his sneers and his snide remarks and concentrated on the proper stuff.

My _parkour _training continued in this manner for months and months. As I gradually got better, I was placed on more important patrols, patrols where they needed a small person to get through the nooks and crannies of a building. I started with stealing minor stuff, like pick-pocketing or raiding jewellery, but Leila started to show me how to break into vaults to get large amounts of money. At the time I never thought it as stealing – there were loads of charities set up for children in need, and we simply got on with it ourselves rather than letting big organisations do it. It was like Robin Hood – taking from the rich and giving to the poor, that's all there was to it.

The pranks from the other kids became few and far between as I stayed with them longer. Caitlin still hated me, but couldn't get as many kids on her side as she used to. The baby crocodile incident was probably one of the worst, especially as there was now a crocodile roaming round the cavern getting bigger every day. It kept out the way of us though, as surprisingly none of the kids were scared of it at all, but it did pop up occasionally to annoy me to frenzy.

As I lived longer with the street kids, I began to notice the little things they did. For example, Erin was often found in a dark cupboard somewhere crying her eyes out, and needed a hug from me or Leila. People sometimes found cigarettes in a draw that belonged to Morgan, a boy in the Tweenies. Every now and then little Oscar disappeared, only to be found a couple of days covered in cuts and bruises. And everyone knew that Jamie, the teen that bugged me from the start, was deeply in love with Leila and spent every opportunity asking her on a date.

Oddest out of all of them was Caitlin. She seemed to make things happen that were impossible, like fall from great heights and survive, or run faster than ever when getting chased by the police. Whenever these things happened Caitlin would go see Riley, and then come back much later crying. Sometimes I even found myself feeling sorry for her as I watch her cry at night in the hammock opposite, but that's only until she empties an entire bucket of cockroaches into my bed the next morning.

One of these strange things happened when I was out on patrol with her, except somehow it happened to me as well. I had been with the Street Kids for six and a half months now, so the patrol was a normal thing for me. Except today Riley was in a particularly bad mood and decided to run the organisation for the patrols. Everyone knew there was a rivalry going on between Caitlin and I including him, and so he decided that we should 'get to know each other better' and put us together on a patrol.

The patrol was fairly easy. All we had to do was check all the streets above our home for suspicious activity; we'd done it before. But because we were getting upon each others nerves so much, we probably weren't paying attention much, and this was the thing that got us into trouble.

It was apparent that the police and other security knew perfectly well that hundreds of street kids running round in Leeds; though they had never been caught, they had often been sighted running away from a crime scene. Erin had once told me, with great detail, about how once she had been almost been caught; it involved a lot of trouble with Riley and she had nearly led the policemen to the hide-out, much to the annoyance of everyone else.

And so, of course, the police of Leeds often keep a look out for us – if they're on top form one day you never know where they might pop up from. This very thing happened when Caitlin and I were standing upon the roof of a jewellery shop that some of the teens wanted to raid later on. It all started when Caitlin started coughing, over and over, until it simply became too annoying to bear.

"Can you shut up?" I muttered, fed-up and pouting whilst I peered over the top of the roof-edge.

Caitlin shook her head, much to my annoyance, and continued coughing. The coughing was become much more fake, and I just knew she was putting it on just to annoy me.

"Shut up!"

She looked at me, smirking at my discomfort. "I can't stop can I? It's a cough. I can't help it."

"I'll tell Leila."

"And what's she gonna do?"

"She'll tell Riley."

"Like that's gonna do anything. Riley don't like you, does he?"

"Shut up!"

"Riley dunt like you, Riley dunt like you!"

"Yeah well…he doesn't like you neither! You do all your magic stuff and he gets pissed! So how you like that then?"

She narrowed her eyes, glaring at me angrily. "What did you say?" She said, low and threatening.

"I heard you at night, crying and stuff. What were you crying about…baby!" I knew the words would hurt but I was so angry I didn't care.

"Shut up! I said shut up!"

"Cry baby, cry baby!"

"Will you just SHUT IT!" Suddenly she was surrounded by fire, blazing as strong as her anger. I cowered back, the heat unbearable as she stood and glared at me. I saw tears of anger and frustration leaking out of her eyes and I bit my lip guiltily. "I can't _help _it, kay? I just…can't…help it…" Her voice was cracked and she crouched down to the ground, the fire gone as suddenly as it came. She buried her head into her hands and I stood there, in the wrong, sorry beyond belief and not quite sure what to do. There was a silence, me just standing there and Caitlin crouching down, sobbing, when it was unexpectedly broken by a shout down below.

"Oi, what's going on up there?" We froze, our heads turned towards each other. We could both read the fear in each others eyes as we stayed like that, barely able to breath.

"It's those kids again! I'll get 'em this time!"

"I'll call the police; they'll catch 'em!"

I crouched down and we peered over the edge of the building, terrified expressions on our faces. Down below we saw two men, one on the phone, both fuming with determined looks on their faces. We looked at one another, not knowing what to do. I saw Caitlin still had tear tracks etched on her face, but now was so scared she couldn't cry. Same as me, then.

"Run for it." She whispered, and I nodded. And then, as if broken from a spell, we bolted. We heard the men down below shout as they spotted us but we didn't give a damn – we just wanted to get out of there.

"Split up!" I shouted, and she nodded. She continued running along the rooftops, springing from one roof to another, using the chimneys and other objects to help her get along. I decided to jump down to the ground, as I wasn't as skilled at _parkour _as she was, so it was probably better to run along the ground. I swung my body down the bars along the stairs and scampered along a street perpendicular to the way Caitlin was going. I took one more look towards her and saw to my horror that she was running faster than I had ever seen anyone run, as well as fire coming from her tracks behind her. I turned forward again, trying to tell myself that I must have been wrong.

"One went that way!" I heard a voice behind me and tried to speed up, running as fast as can along the pavement. I reached a car and rapidly sprung myself over the top of it, propelling me further. I could hear a police siren now, just behind me, and gave myself a single glimpse round before facing front again. There were loads of them now, policemen, dogs, men, in cars or on motorbikes or simply running behind me. I reached a dead end and started pulling myself up a ladder to a roof, sliding through a window when I reached half way.

I found myself in an old office, empty and dark, and I slipped through as fast as I could manage. The room I was in was obviously empty, and I threw myself behind a desk and crouched down as small as possible, just when I heard another man climb through the window.

"Here, little girl." The man said threateningly, pacing from one place to another. I followed his movement with my eyes, slowly crawling in the opposite direction to where ever he was going. I reached a shelving cabinet and stood up, pressing my back against the shelves, holding my rapid breath as much as I can. I couldn't see him now and his footsteps were as quiet as possible, so a peered around the cabinet to see where he was.

To my horror, he was a lot closer than I had imagined. I gasped and then quickly placed a hand over my mouth, but it became apparent that he heard, as he looked round, his eyes narrowed towards where I was. He took a step closer. I let out my breath and ran for it.

I sped through the door at top speed and began running down the corridor, looking for a window. I heard shouts behind me and I knew more men had reached the building, so I quickly dropped down the centre of the stairs and reached another corridor.

I ran down to the end and found no escape. Damn. I was trapped. I could here the shouts coming towards, even gun fires, so I held my arms over my head and closed my eyes, bracing myself…

"_KY!_" I opened my eyes and was pulled into a room nearby, just as the men came round the corner. My kidnapper closed the door and flung a chair at it to guard from the attackers. In my confusion I turned, to come face to face with none other than…

"CAITLIN!" I yelled and threw myself onto her, hugging her tightly.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…" She muttered, trying not to smile. I finally let go of her long enough to give a huge grin. I'd never been so pleased to see her in my life.

"You came back…?" I said questionably, calming down a little. Caitlin shrugged, in denial. There was a loud bang on the door and both of us looked towards it simultaneously.

"Ok, time for praise later." She said, still looking at the door. She turned and looked at me, an expression of determination on her face. "Let's get this party started."

The police men remained still for a moment, pressing their ears against the door to try and listen out for any more noises. There was a tense silence, not even a growl from the dogs, when it was suddenly broke by a crashing sound above. The men cowered down and looked up, to see us two girls slide threw the now broken window above the door. Caitlin and I pushed ourselves against the wall and sprung over the men, smiling as they crouched in shock, glass shattering upon them, before legging it down the corridor. It didn't take long for the police to recover, and we soon heard loud footsteps running towards us.

We found some stairs and threw ourselves down them, skipping steps three at a time. We very soon reached the bottom, though we could see the police men charging down the stairs above us. We took a left down a corridor and reached a door that took some persuading to get open. After Caitlin had picked the lock with her hairpin and the men only twenty metres behind, we managed to wrench it open, stepping out onto the street.

Looking around, we both knew that we did not have a clue where we were. I was little and the street felt huge, and suddenly realised how petrified I was. My hands were shaking and I just knew I was as white as Caitlin looked. But there was no time to pause for thought; I knew we had to get out of there as soon as possible. We could hear, and see, the men behind us and to hell the fact we didn't know where we were going, we needed to go somewhere _other _than here.

We knew that we must be fairly close to where we started, as all we did was go through a building. We chose to go right; for the need to but as much distance between us and them as possible, we didn't really care where to go. Caitlin stayed in front as she was faster than me, and we sped down to street as fast as possible, turning from one to another as fast as possible. We dodged from place to place so much that we were fairly sure we had lost them, so we stopped to breath and rest.

After panting hard with pink cheeks, we looked at one another. Suddenly, maybe to do with the adrenalin rush or just the relief, we both burst into hysterical laughter. We laughed so hard we began to get side stitches, but we still didn't stop. Truth be told, there wasn't really anything to laugh about, and yet it was so darn funny. And that in itself was why it was funny.

Once we had laughed until we could not laugh anymore for fear of dying, we stopped and thought over the situation. After much careful planning (basically, none at all) we decided that we should split up, for fear of leading some of the police the base. Obviously we had not thought it through, and looking back on it now, I suppose it was incredibly stupid. We had no way of contacting each other if we got lost or injured, or worse, _caught._ And yet we followed the plan anyway; she went left, and I went right.

I don't quite know what I managed to do to get found by the police again. I didn't mean to. I was being as quiet as possible, more because I was terrified of anything that moved than anything else. I was so scared that I felt my eyes to become damp and my hands to start shaking again. It was when I whimpered quietly with fear that everything went into motion.

One second I was standing still, with complete silence and loneliness. The next, I'm running at full pelt down the street with police, cars, dogs, the lot, chasing after me as if I bloody killed someone. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't remember any _parkour _at all; just blank helplessness filling my mind until I felt I could explode.

I took a left, then a right, then a left again, my legs aching and my throat hurting from hard breathing. I took yet another left and reached a dead end, an empty wall with no escape.

I had no way out this time. I could hear the shouts, hear growls of the dogs, and hear the sounds of the cars speeding towards me. The first police man that came round the corner looked furious. He was even carrying a gun, and I swear he was going to kill me there and then. Next came a dog, huge and growling, bearing its teeth. Its eyes were narrowed and saliva was dripping from his jaw. I squeaked with panic as more police men came, and more and more, all running towards me angrily. I didn't understand it. What had I done? I was only five. Why was I a threat?

I crouched down and braced myself, my tears streaming down my cheeks in torrents, my eyes screwed up in fear. I wished for it to all go away. I was so scared. The noises were getting louder and louder, shouts and growls, becoming unbearable. I had my head in my hands, waiting for some sort of impact, scared stiff about what might happen…

_BOOM!_

The entire place shuddered as a massive explosion suddenly blew up around me, the force of it shaking the ground. The explosion echoed in my ears and caused me to become dizzy, the sound of it almost imploding my head as it rumbled. I couldn't believe its fast proportions as I heard it tore away at the surrounding area. I suddenly couldn't hear, couldn't see, could barely feel. With one last shuddering shake, my eyes rolled back into my head and my vision was impaired by shopping trolleys, and I fell to the ground out cold.


End file.
